Will open source software win Microsoft?

Microsoft has been working hard for 20 years to develop the Office suite to get a full-featured product today. Most analysts argue that open source software packages like OpenOffice are a major threat to Microsoft " giants ". However, these software packages do not have the attractive features as well as the simplicity as Microsoft's "proud" Office suite.

In fact, Microsoft is continuing to widen the gap between its "reputable" Office suite and other free software suites. An interesting question posed to the open source community is how to keep up with the " rich guy " Microsoft? Bill Gates and their excellent programmers have focused their energies over the past 20 years to create the best products. Meanwhile open source products such as OpenOffice, for example, are just gathering volunteer programmers with their love and passion. Because both of these office suites do not have the same software development process, it is difficult to compare them. However, the open source community also offers small comparisons.

Head of OpenOffice.org's marketing project, Jacqueline McNally, said: " These volunteer programmers are not under any pressure at work and time. Therefore, open source products will The reason is that we are not working for money, the work is interesting and attractive, the product is the work of thousands of programmers around the world with millions of hours of programming to have one Good product . "

The fierce competition

While there are many analytical reviews on both sides, many analysts believe that open source software is becoming more and more powerful, which will be a major threat to the "giant" in Redmond this. Advantages in open source file formats (open file formats) made OpenOffice, KDE, Gnome and Microsoft software substitutes more and more attractive.

However, some argue that open source products have weaknesses. According to Michael Goulde, a Forrester Research software analyst who commented on OpenOffice: " The source code in the OpenOffice 1.0 version is confusing, very difficult to read. However, it is better in OpenOffice 2.0 version ."

So, what open source software can replace Microsoft products? This question has been posed to a number of senior Microsoft managers. However, they avoided and did not give an answer.

An active member of the KDE organization (KDE is the most popular graphical environment for the Linux operating system) said: " I can't speak for Microsoft, but I think the KDE project is only a small part of the platform. KDE, I think the KDE market will grow even more, not just in the Linux environment . " He argued that the most attractive of the open source model is: " Most users of open source products are programmers or experienced users. They will become developers in the projects." Open source projects, their contribution in these products is huge . "

One of the other attractive features of the open source model is its ability to respond to the market. Meanwhile, Microsoft software is closed source (closed-source), so this capability is somewhat limited. The open source community as well as open source projects such as OpenOffice can respond quickly and adaptably to the market faster than closed source products. In international projects, volunteer programmers, and even end users have the opportunity to participate and contribute their ideas to the project. The contribution of all these volunteers is invaluable.

Pressure from the open source community

Does the open source community have a huge impact on monopolies like Microsoft and the trend of developing their products? Some observers think this is true. What motivated this open source model because the software is free? In fact, free open source software has greatly influenced companies involved in open source development. They cannot make money from the products they create, but in return they make a profit from the services that open source software offers.

Huge pressures are weighing on the shoulders of monopolies. A good example is: Microsoft quickly decided to release a new IE (Internet Explorer) but could not wait to release it with Windows Vista. One of the reasons for this change was the unimaginable success of the open source Firefox browser ( Firefox has a tabbed graphical interface, which allows multiple pages to be viewed in one window and lots of changes to the page. good performance for users ). Firefox has become a major competitor in the browser market, threatening IE's No. 1 position.

Another example is the Gnome Desktop environment, which is also a creative example of programming. Desktop environments such as Gnome, KDE support very well multilingual programming, integrated languages, as well as more and more attractive interface changes, software quality also ensures good . created power Great pressure for companies like Microsoft to innovate their products.

The rise of Microsoft

To deal with open source, Microsoft has directed its proprietary technologies to become more potential obstacles in accessing information. The company has plans to release a new version of Office that can "crush" OpenOffice, with support for the open document format ( OpenDocument Format ). Adobe, KOffice, Apache, Sun, and several other software companies also support the OpenDocument Format format.

The competitive market has prompted Microsoft to offer free XML support software, offering free software services such as Windows Live, Office Live . One of the shortcomings of OpenOffice is its ability to support people. handicapped. Meanwhile, Microsoft's Office is very good support. "Microsoft employees will still use Microsoft Office, and the cost of maintaining the software is always cheaper, " a Microsoft expert said.

Feedback from Microsoft said that it was OpenOffice that cost more than its products. The higher prices from open source software are: the price of purchasing additional tools and utilities from other firms, the longer the product maintenance time, the higher the price of training technical staff and the more expensive to install the tools. Security management tool compared to Microsoft products.

One of the weaknesses of open source applications under Microsoft is the ability to repair software. Microsoft commented: Linux takes 30% more time to fix security vulnerabilities than Windows. Moreover, documentation for open source applications is poorer and technical support is not comparable to Microsoft. System administrators will take longer to manage than Windows.

Factors leading to success

Open source will be increasingly expanded, adding new features more attractive like in other competing competing products. One of the factors leading to the success of open source software is the ability to access information easily, the price is cheaper and independent of a single vendor.

Although significant achievements have been achieved in all aspects, open source is still far from being able to dominate the software market. Although open source is free, there are still factors that users require such as documenting, product support, and time of survival . are also problems with source software. open. To solve these problems, many companies have created 2 versions of open source software: 1 free version and 1 free version but with more features as well as technical support.

Microsoft has also embarked on the open source market and traditional open source developers are also making a profit from selling services from open source products. Therefore, whether the winning answer will belong to open source software is still a big question mark. However, the boundary between open source software and traditional software is also increasingly blurred.

Minh Phuc